lor — English Dictionary

Particle

1. Tagged at the end of a sentence to convey a sense of resignation or inevitability.

   Usage

   • Hong-Kong
   • Manglish
   • Singlish
   • Colloquial

   Examples

   Next time lor.

   OK lor, go ahead.

   More examples (5)

   bo pian lor.

   [B]y then, it was too late, and I just told myself, ‘Ya lor. He’s right.’

   We had no income, so just eat at Koufu or Kopitiam lor.

   Within a minute, Hougang uncle moves from denial, anger, and bargaining to “ok lor I’ll just remove them”—a quintessential Singaporean pattern of resignation.

   At dusk in Sea Park Apartments, you will hear John sweeping the street and carpark downstairs. He does it almost every day, since cleaning services stopped[…]"Might as well loh," he says, when I ask why.

2. Used to suggest that there is an obvious, inevitable or straightforward answer to something.

   Usage

   • Hong-Kong
   • Manglish
   • Singlish
   • Colloquial

   Synonyms

   lah

   Examples

   Near-synonym: lah (sense 6)

   You lor, or else still got who?

   More examples (5)

   Then tell him lor.

   Take a cab lor, easier this way.

   Wait till December lor.

   young mother: You never told me you had so much money... You sure you can afford this? young father: No need to worry about that. Not enough then borrow lor.

   I didn’t go to uni, just picked up the language organically from conversations around me. Twitter/Facebook, friends, news, etc … Anything I wasn’t sure of, just Google lor.

3. Suggests that the reply given is the obvious or expected one.

   Usage

   • Hong-Kong
   • Manglish
   • Singlish
   • Colloquial

   Examples

   At my house lor.

   More examples (1)

   It’s true for me, at least. Friends under interrogation insist that ‘Have You Eaten?’ is very much alive, but when asked to recall their last encounter, answers invariably skew towards inter-generational anecdotes. “Relatives lor” is the top reply, and “Small-talk with taxi drivers” emerged as a runner-up because many feel compelled to make conversation after the initial “PIE or CTE?” decision.

   As a facilitator, I often ask the participants: how are you feeling now? And often, the replies I get are: "Okay lor", "Like that lor".

4. Used to reinforce an opinion, sometimes in a sarcastic manner.

   Usage

   • Hong-Kong
   • Manglish
   • Singlish
   • Colloquial

   Examples

   Sorry lor.

   Ya lor / Han nor.

   More examples (1)

   A retired senior police officer in Hong Kong on trial over the assault of a bystander during the 2014 Occupy protests said “sorry lor” for his actions in court on Friday, admitting that he hit his accuser with a baton on instinct.

Adjective

1. Little.

   Usage

   • Hong-Kong
   • Manglish
   • Singlish
   • Colloquial
   • Slang